Monsoon’s withdrawal likely to begin around October 10: IMD
As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), although the southwest monsoon officially ends on September 30th, the monsoon’s withdrawal is likely to begin only around October 10th - the most delayed withdrawal since 1961 (October ...

"River conversations are critical to re-evaluate histories, reconnect civilisations, cultures and peoples, ideas and regions and open streams of thought for a future with exciting possibilities," says Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Associate Professor and Vice Dean, Jindal School of Journalism and Communic...

India finally announced that it would increase its targets of restoring degraded lands from 21 million hectares to 26 million hectares[1]. This target comes on the heels of weeks of conjecture on the "big announcement" expected from the host country during the UNCCD COP14 meeting in Delhi.
While th...

India has witnessed extreme weather conditions this year. While parts of the north and south have battled drought like conditions this summer, the northeast and western coastal areas witnessed heavy rains and floods.While climate change has been highlighted as one of the reasons for these extreme ev...

The Water Future Conference in Bangalore last week, saw many from the scientific community, academia, research, civil society and the media come together to discuss the state of water resources across the world and in India, as well as future pathways and scenarios, and different technological and i...

Spatial and temporal information of agriculture, forest, topography, land use change, climate and socio-economic factors are very useful in the planning and implementation of Natural Resource Management (NRM) programs. Despite this relevance, quantitative information on these variables is not widely...

NGT orders DDA to ensure farming on the Yamuna floodplains is stopped by 2020
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the Delhi Development Authority to ensure that farming of fruit and vegetables on the Yamuna floodplains is stopped and the area is restored into a biodiversity area. The trib...

Arecanut is generally grown in the Malnad area of Karnataka, which receives high rainfall. However, it is also grown in dry land areas of Tumkur district, also in Karnataka, using groundwater. Arecanut cultivation area doubled from 5851 hectares in 1990-91 (Kumar 2003) to 12,628 hectares in 2001-02 ...

Government identifies 100 wetlands for restoration in next five years
At the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 14) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Environment Ministry identified more than 100 wetlands for restoration in the next five years&...

Pune, September 05 (India Science Wire): A team of atmospheric scientists from India, USA and Canada have found that aerosols in the atmosphere can increase the severity of droughts over the Indian subcontinent by as much as 17 per cent during El Nino years.
The team led by Dr. Suvarna S. Fadnavis...

Greater Noida, September 5 (India Science Wire): Degradation of land, which leads to the process of desertification, is not limited to arid and semi-arid areas but is also visible in high altitude regions that get very little rainfall and are known as cold deserts.
In cold desert regions in India, ...

Team Malhar, students of Water Policy and Governance (WPG) and alumni of Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai in partnership with RRA Network proudly present the third annual session of "WATER TALK SERIES" on 7th September, 2019 at TISS, Mumbai
The Water Talk Series was started in 2017 with t...

Ahead of UNCCD COP14 in Delhi this week, India pledges to restore 5 million hectares of degraded land by 2030
For the first time, India is hosting the 14th Conference of Parties (COP 14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) from September 2nd to the 13th in New Delhi.&...

Centre to provide 43-55 litre/day water per person to rural households by 2024
Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Centre plans to provide 43 to 55 litres of water per person per day to every rural Indian household by 2024, and to set up a dedicated fund called Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh f...

Drinking water programs in India treat urban and rural areas separately, generally neglecting the special characteristics of settlements referred to as peri-urban – those on the outskirts or peripheries of urban areas, or “rurban” settlements i.e. rural areas with urban facilities.
A study - ...

Since the 25th of July, there have been four consecutive weeks of surplus rainfall which have compensated for the delayed onset of monsoon and the deficient rains recorded in June and early July. July had ended with a countrywide deficit of 9%, but vigorous Monsoon conditions took the rains to...

Besides showcasing the architectural expertise and aesthetics of their time, temple tanks also play an extremely important role as water storage systems in Chennai. Chennai has 39 temple tanks (excluding the suburban area) according to a study conducted in 2008. As the rains arrived, a few tem...

The videos were all over the Internet and social media. Expectedly so, because you don’t often see crocodiles swimming in flooded urban streets, sneaking up on strays. But that’s precisely what happened shortly after news of ‘urban floods’ in Vadodara hit headlines in early August. The city ...

Floods are an annual phenomenon in Assam. They are as integral to the state as the Brahmaputra River is, and each monsoon, we are reminded that Assam exists (or is drowning). As I write this piece, Assam is slowly recovering from the first wave of flood this monsoon. For several weeks, the entire st...

Southwest monsoon claims 227 lives
At least 227 people across the country have been reported dead in floods, lightning and landslides occurring due to the southwest monsoon. With 80 casualties, Kerala is the worst affected state in the south. Several parts of Gujarat, including Saurashtra and ...

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The new national water policy should take up a comprehensive and integrated view of water resources development with a focus on rainfed areas.

A committee has been constituted to draft a new National Water Policy (NWP) and make key changes in the water governance structure and regulatory framework. It is chaired by Mihir Shah, who is a former Planning Commission member and a water expert. The committee is expected to produce a report within six months. The Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture (RRA) Network, a pan India network working on evolving operational processes for planning and convergence to facilitate the revival of rainfed agriculture has made its submission to the committee drafting the NWP.

Centre approves Atal Bhujal Yojana, worth Rs 6,000 croreConsidering the acute groundwater shortage in the country, the Union Cabinet has approved the Atal Bhujal Yojana with a total outlay of Rs 6,000 crore to manage the critical resources of water through multiple activities.

This compendium by Dr Mihir Kumar Maitra answers all questions that will be of great use to practitioners engaged in both engineering and management aspects of watershed management in the field.

This compendium by Mihir Kumar Maitra is a valuable resource for all practitioners engaged in watershed management activities in the field. The first part of the book addresses the technical and engineering aspects useful in developing natural resources like land, surface water, groundwater, crops and forest while the second part discusses aspects related to formulation, appraisal and implementation of watershed projects by involving the beneficiaries in the process.

A study calls for solutions that can benefit farmers and the environment and positively impact India's nutrition indicators.

A new study finds that introducing coarse cereals such as millet and sorghum could improve India’s national food supply in many ways. The study by the Data Science Institute at Columbia University found that India’s agricultural policies have largely focused on the single objective of maximizing production, and not enough attention has been given to nutrition, climate, and environment.

A report by the India Rivers Forum highlights the need to focus further than the main stem of the Ganga river.

The National Mission for Cleaning Ganga was set up in 2014 and the Namami Gange programme was launched the year after, with a budget outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore. The implementation of the flagship programme was followed by the framing of a draft National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Bill, 2019 to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.